To navigate holiday returns, watch the clock

Three kids, two toddler boys and a girl, opening a golden gift box with light coming out of it under a Christmas tree with holiday lights.

Buyer’s remorse may be easy to remedy this holiday season — just remember to mark your calendar.

a new report from advocacy site ConsumerWorld.org, which has studied store return policies around the holidays for the past 15 years.

“Certainly the concept of having an extended holiday return policy seems to be very widespread,” said founder Edgar Dworsky.

Many major retailers have deadlines of mid- to late January to return purchases made during the holiday season, he said.

For example, Amazon will accept returns through Jan. 31 for most items shipped Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, ConsumerWorld.org found, while Best Buy has a Jan. 12 returns deadline for most purchases made from Oct. 31 through Dec. 28.

But if a return is on your post-holiday to-do list, make sure you read the policy carefully.

Stores have become more apt to “slice and dice” their return policies by category, Dworsky said, so your timeline may be different for returning clothing versus jewelry versus an appliance. At Macy’s, the report notes, the broad deadline is 180 days from purchase — but specific items have return windows of zero, 3, 14, 30, 45, 60 or 120 days.

MOST COMMENTED

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) waves to the press as he walks with US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, April 7, 2017. China and the U.S. are looking to push an earlier scheduled meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi…